Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Breitbart - Pentagon May Court Martial Soldiers Who Share Christian Faith
Breitbart News reports: "The Pentagon has released a statement [...] confirming that the military will make it a crime--possibly resulting in imprisonment--for those in uniform to share their faith. This would include chaplains—military officers who are ordained clergymen of their faith (mostly Christian pastors or priests, or Jewish rabbis)--whose duty since the founding of the U.S. military under George Washington is to teach their faith and minister to the spiritual needs of troops who come to them for counsel, instruction, or comfort."

Comment: Given the source, I wonder how much of this has been sensationalized so as to become a sensational story? I mean, how would military chaplains even do their jobs? There are a lot of Christians in the U.S. military, both enlisted ranks and officers, and I just don't think this kind of extreme policy will be tolerated. The military places a lot of emphasis on tradition and military chaplains have a long and storied history in the American military.

And what is driving this? It's not like religious proselytizing is even a "problem" in the military that needs to be addressed. They have real problems (like wars, repeated deployments and underfunded veterans programs) to worry about and not some exaggerated problem that people are sharing their faith too much.

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